Asked about a proposal by the opposition Labour Party that evacuation of the settlements should take place in tandem with the road map, Mr Sharon said he viewed the road map as dead.

"This would have brought Israel to a most difficult situation. I didn't agree to this," he said. "Today, we are also not following the road map.'

The road map was launched last year, envisaging a Palestinian state by 2005. Senior US officials said Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza had to end.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, has approved plans for a huge expansion of Jewish housing in the West Bank. Critics claimed it was part of his long-held plan to entrench the large settlement blocs and incorporate them into Israel.

Israel's housing ministry published tenders yesterday for the construction of 1,001 new homes in four West Bank settlements, including two of the largest, Ariel and Ma'ale Adumim. This followed reports that Israel had been expanding settlements over the past three months.

Analysts said the latest expansion fitted in with Mr Sharon's vision of a two-state solution and that behind the scenes the United States had given tacit approval.

The construction appears to go against the spirit and letter of the American-sponsored "road map" for peace, which envisages a freeze on settlement building as a precondition for a negotiated resolution to the conflict.

But Israeli officials argue that it is in step with the letters of understanding reached between Mr Sharon and President George W Bush.

In those letters, which have been approved by the US Congress, Mr Bush endorsed Mr Sharon's plan to withdraw from settlements in the Gaza Strip while agreeing that Israel should be allowed to hold on to large population centres in the West Bank.

Under the plans Jerusalem is likely to be transformed into a region encompassing settlements to the north and south and link up with other settlements through a network of roads and fences, including the huge security barrier now being built.

Smaller settlements outside the main zones could be abandoned and the Palestinians might exercise sovereignty over four disconnected areas around Jenin and Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, and Hebron and Bethlehem.

Tzipi Livni, the housing minister, said the expansion plans covered settlements "at the heart of the Israeli consensus". She added: "There is no reason for a big drama."

But Jeff Halper, co-ordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, said the expansion was part of Mr Sharon's plans to disengage from Gaza but keep hold of the West Bank.

"These new tenders are part of a plan, formulated by Sharon and developed for a long time, to keep the main settlements, entrench the occupation of the West Bank and give the Palestinians a Bantustan on land encompassing perhaps about half of the West Bank while getting out of Gaza but not losing control of it,' he said.

Ophir Pines, a senior spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, demanded that the prime minister immediately revoke the tenders.

He said this would be a pre-condition for negotiations which going on with Likud officials over Labour joining a unity government.